Thursday, November 30, 2006

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Over The Edge in association with Poetry Ireland presents a reading by Medbh McGuckian

The final Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2006 takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, December 14th, 6.30-8pm.

The Featured Readers are Cate Huguelet, Hugh Doyle & Medbh McGuckian.

Cate Huguelet was raised on Chicago’s South Side and moved to Ireland in 2005. Her writing has appeared in various publications in Ireland and the US. Her collaboration with visual artist Emma Petterson featured in the 2006 Cúirt Document exhibition. After completing an MA in Writing at NUI, Galway, Cate has relocated to Cork, where she is working on a first collection of poems.

Hugh Doyle lives in Spiddal. He was a finalist in this year’s Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam and was also selected for Mark Doty's poetry master-class during the Cúirt Festival. He has read his work at the launch of the Oxfam Life Lines poetry CD during the Project 06 festival in Galway, at the Clare Island Festival and at the Newcastle Irish festival in the UK.

Medbh McGuckian was born in 1950 in Belfast. She is one of Ireland’s most critically acclaimed poets. She has been Writer-in-Residence at Queen's University, Belfast, the University of Ulster, Coleraine, and Trinity College, Dublin. Among the prizes she has won are England's National Poetry Competition, The Rooney Prize, and The Forward Prize for Best Poem. She is the author of twelve poetry collections; the most recent The Currach Requires No Harbours was published by Gallery Press earlier this year. http://www.gallerypress.com/news.html

As usual there will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are especially welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of Galway City Council, Poetry Ireland and The Arts Council

Saturday, November 25, 2006

There is a thoughtful article by Dave Lordan in the latest issue of Socialist Worker about Ireland's growing poetry slam scene. A number of slam participants well known to Over The Edge audiences receive favourable mention.

Emerging Galway poets, Miceál Kearney and Lorna Shaughnessy, both have poems in the new issue of The Shop: A Magazine Of Poetry.

Miceál's wry satire on poetry writing, {insert title}, is on page eighteen, while Lorna's beautifully written, Disarray, can be found on page twenty six.

Miceál was a Featured Reader at Over The Edge in September and won the inaugural Cuisle Festival Poetry Slam in Limerick in October. Lorna read at the 2006 Cúirt Festival/Over The Edge Showcase reading in April. Her first collection of poems was recently accepted for publication by Salmon Poetry.

The Shop, edited by John & Hilary Wakeman, is one of Ireland's leading poetry magazines.

Subscriptions and submissions should be sent to The Shop: A Magazine Of Poetry, Skeagh, Schull, Co. Cork, Ireland.

Chloe Poems is performance poetry at its most daring, outrageous,brilliant and best!A one-person poetry revolution in gingham and pearls!

Guest MC: TRISH CASEY, Rattlebag and Cúirt Slam winner.

The North Beach Poetry Nights Slam follows the usual format.Newcomers welcome!Please bring 2 three minute performance pieces with youand come early to put your name on the list.The prize is the honour and a bottle of red wine,generously donated by BK’S.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Over The Edge has just been informed that we are to receive increased funding from the national Arts Council to support the literary events we organise in Galway City Library and at Sheridan’s Wine Bar.

Over The Edge will receive € 4, 000 from the Arts Council under the Small Festivals Scheme to support our 2007 programme of literary events.

In a joint statement Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins said: “The increase in our Arts Council grant is a big boost obviously. We have an exciting programme of readings by poets and fiction writers planned for 2007. In January we celebrate Over The Edge’s fourth anniversary with a reading by well known Canadian poet, Todd Swift, in Galway City Library.”

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

The November Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, November 23th, 6.30-8pm. The Featured Readers are Adrian White, Joan McBreen & Fiona Claire.

Adrian White moved from Manchester to Galway in 1990. He has worked as abookseller, a barman, a painter and decorator, a removal man and a car park attendant. His first novel, An Accident Waiting to Happen, was published in 2004and his second, Where the Rain Gets In, came out in March 2006. Both are published by Penguin Books. Man Dog Bitch is the title of his third book.

Joan McBreen is from Sligo and now lives in Tuam. She edited The White Page - Twentieth Century Irish Women Poets (Salmon Publishing). Joan has published three collections of poetry; the most recent Winter in The Eye - New and Selected Poems, was published by Salmon in 2003. In 2004 she launched a CD, The Long Light on the Land - Selected Poems by Joan McBreen with Traditional Airs and Classical Music.

Fiona Claire is an actress and writer who lived for many years in Los Angeles, but recently moved to County Galway. She has worked in numerous television shows, including Third Rock From The Sun, Star Trek Voyager, and King of Queens, and in films such as L.A. Confidential, and Contact. She has written a collection of fables for adults, one novel and is working on a second.

As usual there will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are especially welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of Galway City Council and The Arts Council

Paul Perry was born in Dublin in 1972. He has won the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award and The Listowel Prize for Poetry. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the TLS, Granta and The Best American Poetry 2000. His first book The Drowning of the Saints was published in 2003, by Salmon, to critical acclaim. The Orchid Keeper, published by Dedalus, is his much-anticipated second collection of poems.

Neil McCarthy is a Cork-born, Galway-based poet and English Teacher. His poems have appeared in numerous magazines and journals around the world. He is a hugely entertaining and engaging reader of his work. Neil recently completed a series of readings in Graz (Austria), Prague, Nuremburg and at The Dylan Thomas Centre in Wales. He has just published, Voicing the Bell, a joint poetry collection with fellow Galway-based poet Stephen Murray.

Alan Jude Moore was born in Dublin in 1973. His poetry has been widely published in Ireland, Europe and the USA, and in translation by Italian annual Pelagos. His fiction has twice been short-listed for the Hennessy Literary Award. His first collection of poetry, Black State Cars, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2004. A selection of poems from it was published earlier this year in translation by Russian literary journal, Novaya Junost.

Anthony Daly was born in Galway in 1979. He is currently studying Classics and History at N.U.I. Galway. In March 2005 he was a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library. Anthony is also a regular and popular participant in both the North Beach Nights poetry slams and the Cuirt Festival Grand Slam. In 2003 his poetry featured in the Tribe of Scribes collection. More recently one of his poems appeared in Galway Xposed.

There is no entrance fee. All welcome. For further information contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council and Galway City Council